absent's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Jive Machine]

God yes.

God fucking yes. That was the greatest thing ever. The graphics and dance choreography were masterfully done. The song selection was perfect (love all of the songs) and overall this flash is the most ground breaking submission I've ever seen.

The graphics are awesome, as you can quickly tell through the awesome preloader and menu screens. The backgrounds used in the flash also have a great well drawn, cartoony style to them. The fact that there were backgrounds for each song was also a nice touch ;)

The one thing I would say is that some of the backgrounds are a bit distracting to the main attraction of the flash (the amazing dancing). It probably was distracting because the window for the dancing wasn't centered on the screen, so your eyes are likely to look up a bit. Also the low quality movie can sometimes stick out against the very clean backgrounds. I suppose you can't do too much about that though :/

Otherwise it's very well done, and I liked some of the subliminal messages on the newgrounds backgrounds. So when should I give you that oral sex sir?

The style of the flash and dancing is of course the best thing I've ever watched. The only way to describe it is that it brought an orgasm to my eyes and erection to my pants :o The dance moves were over the top and easily recognizable, which made it really fun to play around with. It's tough getting the moves to match with the songs exactly, but most of the time it strangely works out.

With some of the dance moves the camera moves a little, either up or down, which can make moving from one move to another a bit choppy. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose to fit the dancing or not, but it's not much of a huge deal. When you press "Q" the door opens a little :p

This flash is awesome, but really it mostly comes down to mashing buttons and giggling at dave as he prances around in the room. It would be really cool if you could expand this little game, and possibly have him dance to a set beat, DDR style. For now though, this is still fun in it's own sexy and silly way.

Awesome job guys!

BlueHippo responds:

Thanks for the awesome review and ideas.

-dave

[Skears DX]

Amazing challenge

Just to let you know, I really love this game, in case you can't tell from the score ;) Your touches of originality when creating levels knows no bounds, and even with a very limited amount of parts to the game, you very still able to create a very enjoyable if not a bit frusturating game.

The game graphics are not anything special looking by all means, but they get the job done. The way you arrange the skears is pretty cool for most of the levels, especially level 7, which was the most interesting level for me to play, because of the way the level plays out. You also change the colors of the skears sometimes, which was a nice touch.

Some things to think about would be how to add to this game without getting repetitive. You have ten levels so far, all of them diffilcult for the most part. Try changing up the background more. Maybe make it animated or simply just different, so the player can really see that he or she has moved on past the previous levels. A good way to do this could be to make the background darker as the player moves on, or something of that nature. You also only have two types of skears, and you use them creatively to create fun levels, but there is only so much you can do. There could be skears that change color, skears that disseaper and reappear, etc. Even slight changes to the types skears could open up a large variety of new challenges that you could base levels off.

Your somewhat humorus commentary that comes up every time you die was fun to read, especially while on my quest to become a skears master, which I have not yet become after losing spirit when making my first mistake on the last level. Oh well, I'll come back to this game later. What I would suggest, and this is something I think would be very important, would be that if you're going for the no mistake ending, that after dying at a level, there could be the addition of a "restart" button, so I could try again from the beginning, rather than try the same level over to beat the game, which I have already done. The ending to the game was cool though. I like the "THE END" screen where I had to destroy the skears to continue to the next screen, neat.

This is really a great game to play, and because of it's diffilculty, it shouldn't be considered a little mini game that you can shrug off in five minutes.

AcidDimensions responds:

Awesome review.

Your opening paragraph is gushing with praise and contains some nice usage of the English language.

You mention your few caveats and do go on to give suggestions, which is brilliant.

The one part of your review I couldn't follow is at the bottom of paragraph 2, where you write, "You also change the colors of the skears sometimes, which was a nice touch."

The Skears remain the same colours throughout. Or maybe you're talking about the way they're semi-transparent? I shall assume you were.

You give excellent suggestions, and expand upon them which is nice.

Even though I'd thought of them before (it has been years, after all), it's useful to know what you'd most appreciate seeing.

Incidentally, the abandoned version of Skears 2 does have 'warping skears'. Skears DX is the best imo though.

The point about the restart button, though, I had not thought of and it's a very good point.

It's nice how you get specific with your praise, like pointing out the commentary etc. Hearing about your experience (your horribly timed mistake) is always interesting.

Praise and criticism/suggestions both abound and are clearly put forward. Personal experience is touched upon and the last paragraph is a great summary.

Your usage of the language is commendable and there is no waffle.

My only complaint is that one sentence I mentioned earlier, which is a little unclear.

Also, in the last paragraph, you should have written, "because of its diffilculty" (no apostrophe). Only write "it's" when you mean to say, "it is".

9/10

Thanks for another great review.

Might I humbly request you write your opinions on my "'Asteroids' music video"?

Either way, thanks and stay funky.

- Bez

[letters (demo)]

Good game, but lacking.

This is a nice game that you have created, simple at best but it still delivers some good difficulty. Especially to me, the "not so good" typist.

The graphics are simple, but effective, considering a game of this nature isn't really something that would need amazing graphics at all. The purple color sceme is nice, but I really felt that there was something lacking. The letters are hand drawn, which is nice, but I did find that your letter "s" was tricky to recognize at first glance. Some suggestions could be to change the color sceme through the levels. This meaning you could make a green themed level, or a red one, to give the game more variety. A background other than a solid color would be nice but not necessary in this case, and maybe some kind of animation for the letters whenever they are destroyed, such as a small animeted explosion, rather than the letter simply disappearing when pressed.

Sound would be a great addition to this game. Some background music and sound effects when a letter is pressed would really make the game more interesting to play. Sound effects are some of the main things that really get me into a game, and keep it from becoming boring as easily.

The game itself is good, and has potential to only become better. I like how you give the levels a new twist each time rather than simply adding more letters and increasing the fall speed of them. The ending was something of a turnoff to me by saying you beat this "stupid little game" because it doesn't seem satisfying to play a game when the author just thinks it's stupid. At the end, you can only go back and replay level 4, but it would be nice to be able and go back and play the first levels as well, without having to have to close the flash and reload.

Overall, it's a nice little game, and although it's only a demo, it really seems like something that could become better and better.

AcidDimensions responds:

Great review.

You start off with some general positive comments. You go from extolling the small virtues of the graphics to pointing out the typographical problems. Suggestions are given, rounding off the first 'real' paragraph.

This paragraph alone would be a good review.

You then go on to suggest some sound, elaborating and going into specifics without ever repeating yourself.

You then praise the fact I "give the levels a new twist each time rather than simply adding more letters and increasing the fall speed of them." That's the kind of specific positive comment that I really love - it not only shows you genuinely liked that aspect, but it also give me an idea of what strengths I can concentrate on and ensure I don't remove in any later iteration.

Your statement that "the ending was something of a turnoff to [you]" maybe deserves a new paragraph. Nit picking aside, you raise an interesting point I hadn't considered before. You show me a new point of view.

The following comment is also well made and nicely elaborated upon.

The closing comments serve as a brilliant summary of your thoughts and ensure I realise your general opinion.

Overall, it's a brilliant review, with a good amount of praise, criticism/suggestions and a good summary.

You get down to specifics and elaborate when needed.

8/10

You may enjoy some of my other stuff. Maybe Skears DX. Maybe Asteroids. In any case, I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of my other submissions you care to spend your time over.

Stay funky.
- Bez

[Captain Panda 1 v.2]

Really nice work!

Ha! I love tunnel type games, and this one sure didn't let me down!.

The graphics of the game should I say were just plain sweet. The plane graphic was very good, and I like how you can see it change position when it moves up or down. The graphics for the tunnel were also good, because instead of simply a big black tunnel that you travel through, there was actually some variety to the tunnels, and you could make ice tunnels, earth tunnels, ect. The only thing that I could possibly complain about would be the lack of background. I know that f you added a background it might start to disorientate the player, who's trying to concentrate. However, I think that very simple background (such as a space background of some sort) would do good for the game. Using backgrounds, you could aslo add more diffilculty to the game, such as a level with rain, making it harder to see. Just throwing some wild suggestions out there ok? ;)

The music was nice. I like how it changed from stage to stage, so it doesn't get boring after a while. The sound effect for the explosion was also a good addition. No complaints here from me. Looks like you got off easy here ;)

As for the actual gameplay, it's just like one of those tunnel games with a few new features like hp, levels and better graphics. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but the addictive gameplay keeps you coming back for more. I like the continue option, no wait, I LOVE the continue option, it saved me some frustration throughout the game. In the fourth level, you start the game above the tunnel though, and even though you may do this for diffilculty, I still don't think that it's very fair because the first time you enter the level, it catches you off guard. I never made it to the bonus level thus far, so I don't know what I'm missing as far as that goes. Some additions you might want to consider would be diffilculty modes such as faster tunnel, or more levels, like maybe a city level?, that would be cool to see.

Overall, great game, lots of fun. It's simplistic and addictive, and you'll find yourself playing it for quite a while.

Oddy responds:

Dude! That's quality reviewing right there :)
Thank you :)

[Rumble Ball field 3]

Damn, this game just got reloaded.

I remember the first one, simple, easy, and you'd just have fun and collecting the coins and hitting the blocks. Well NOT ANY MORE! This thing has been loaded up with a billion and more features.

Some of the first things I noticed was the way you hit the ball. Now you control how fast it goes. Much more helpful when navigating the pits and giant mines...though it would be cool if you could have the option to turn this feature off for practice mode and have the ball always go at top speed when hitting it, because it would make the levels go faster and, and it got a little annoying always having to hold the mouse down for a second before hitting it. Unlike in normal or hard, when you have to control the speed to just survive, while there are no obstacles in practice, and therefore you end up using top speed most of the time.

The levels also take quite a while longer than the ones in the original game, because of a few little things you've added. Mainly because some of the blocks that have armor of some sort, and can regain it after about five seconds of hitting the block. It got frusturating when you had to quickly hit the block again before it went back to full health so quickly, so maybe increase the time it takes to regenerate by a second or so, or get rid of that regenerating feature altogether. Grr..annoying!! (or atleast to me, because me = not very good at game)

The graphics are still great and look 3D, even though the game is top down. Your style is unique and it's lots of fun to see an original game around. The way everything flows is perfect (Except in high quality, heh, oh well), and the levels are packed with many more things than before. The sound was nice, and the hit sounds along with the collecting coin sound also fit in well. It might be nice to add some background music to this that you can turn on or off (like some kind of techno beat) to get people in to the game.

I guess violence shouldn't really be a factor in a puzzle game, but I'll give you some points for the big explosions and holes and the acid walls or whatever those evil green blocks are. The interactivity is obviously improved because of the way you can control how you hit the ball like I mentioned, and some of the powerups (like 2x). You could always add health boxes (Please! :P) and maybe double power to your hit (dangerous but possibly rewarding). The game isn't that funny, but I found it a bit humorus for some reason so a point there anyway. Overall nine from me. Awesome game, I really love it. By the way, I like the low file size, good for them dial up users out there.

GameBalance responds:

Thanks!
I don't know what to say...
I have no much time for flash cuz I need to prepare my first music album to release. So I decide to make just fields for Rumble Balls. It's easer then make levels for Orbox.
Good idea about always full power. I think it can be button to swich on/off near the power bar. I'll add it to field 4.
I added second already to regenerating blocks. Maybe it realy needs more time, cuz usualy I'm one of the best player in my games :)
But this regenerating blocks intresting feature anyway.
We'll see what my mind will do in the next one...

[Take to the Streets]

Very cool style, like mortal kombat

There was a whole lot to this game and it was all good. I loved the moves and the taunts too. It's cool how all the characters moved differently and fought differently along with having their own funny things to say along the way. The game was ok, but as long as you're not surrounded, it's pretty easy to survive. At the final boss, I was expecting a harder and longer level, but oh well. The spikes were a cool feature, maybe the ability to jump would have been cool too. Who knows what you could have come up with if you added that. The background was nice and including some funny touches as well like 'don't read this sign'. All of this gives this game a fresh and unique style. Very good work!

gavD responds:

Thanks -absentminded-

There are no plans to make a sequel, but I'm going to enhance this version at some point to include sprite depth layering. No jumping attacks, but my other game End of Nightmares features jump attacks, as will the forthcoming Amoeba Amoeba

[Clash'N Slash v2]

Wow, I like this a lot.

I played this quite a lot, not the best at it, but got to the three star diffilculty, and my name up on the highscore board. Let me not be the first to say that I liked the graphics, cool and more original gameplay, and the weapons and powerups, etc. The endless gameplay was one of the most important features, because it keeps you playing until you can't do any better, not just until the game ends. The new powerup feature was interesting, but still worked well in the game.

Ok, now for the other stuff. You gave us a choice of four weapons but how come you can't use the last one (the shock or something)? Or do you have to get to a higher diffilculty than three stars? When you shoot enough enemies you get to power up right? Well, it gets annoying to click that red button on the bottom of the screen when you're trying to fight your way out of a giant mass of enemies. I would have liked a hot key for the powerup screen like pressing p or something like that, but you most likely didn't use the keyboard because you wanted the game just to use the mouse. But if you didn't want to use the keyboard in gameplay, why not just make the powerup screen come up automaticly?

Now, towards the actual powerups, most of them I didn't use a lot, and some weren't much use like damages enemies after destroyed. But on the flip side, I had to depend on faster reload every time during the later levels because of the speed the enemies came. I would have liked the waves or levels to be longer because since powerups that don't stay towards the next level, getting them during easy levels seems wasteful unless you had a while to really use them. I also may have liked powerups that effect other things like enemies move slower, or weapons have half range for a certain time. These may not be activated by the player, but they could mix up gameplay during the game and make it more interesting.

A quick but minor glitch I found was that if you are reloading and press the button to powerup, the bar that shows how much time left for reloading is gone. It doesn't sound too bad, but it gets annoying when I don't know why I can't shoot for a second. I also didn't understand why the enemies were attacking, can you add a quick plot of some sort to explain, or do you not want to because you want this to feel like a fast pased arcade game (which it does).

I really love this game no matter what though, and I would buy it in a second if it were for mac computers too.

Enkord responds:

Thanks for a nice review.
The shock weapons available in downloadable version and there IS hotkey for power-up. It's SPACE. If you can power-up it will bring power-up screen, if you can't - it will pause it.

[GG's Ultimate Arcade]

Time for a long review.

Ok, where to begin. The game was very hard, not the games themselves, but getting the scores needed. The toy room is a nice addition, although very evil because the game doesn't tell you how to unlock all the toys. But anyway, on to the games.
UP BALL - This was the hardest one of all. Even though it's the first game, it really hard. The graphics were nice and all, but controlling the ball was a nightmare until a figured out a trick to win easily. You wouldn't believe how many times I got 19 points. Grrr...
TENNIS CATAPULT - Quite easy actually, I found this and all the games in the middle were the most simple. You could have added some clouds to the sky in this one. I got this one in the first try, and beat the score to get it in the toy box.
THE SKATER - The longest of all the games because it starts out so slow. Hmm, I remember playing something like this in warioware. I like the freaky texture in the skater, but maybe you could make the wheels move on the skate board? The blurred trees in the background gave me a headache.
CRAZY RACERS - Ahh...much easier than the last game, pretty straight forward, I got the toy box amount too on my first try.
HIT A GOPHER - Another easy game. I would suggest adding more time to the clock (60 seconds) and having the gophers stay up for shorter times if you want it to be very hard. Yep, got the toy box "amount" here too.
PROTECT YOUR MILK - A cheesy version of overrun. The stickmen look kinda like spiders to me. How come there was no point counter?
FALLDOWN - I've played this on the calc, nice remake, but not much else to say.
CUBE CRUSHER - Trying to confuse me aren't you? Well you did. Atleast I got mostly red arrows. I like this one because I thought it was one of the more original games. You could expand this farther if you wanted to.
MAGNETISM MINI- Heh, this wasn't that hard to beat, but that gravity changer screws me over every time. I think you should make a game out of this...oh wait.
KEEP IT UP - Meh, not that exciting, I would have liked something along the lines of ankaroid or something. The gravity made it tough though. Another game for potential to become bigger (well, with power ups, gravity shifter and enemies)?
STOP THE CLOCK - Well, if I did good on your other timing game, I'll do good on this. Simple, but fun.
LIGHTNING GAME - Pretty easy, but not your greatest graphics on the character. This one and its half version are sweet.

And the password is...
Don't worry I won't spoil anything, I'll leave that to someone else. I really love this collection of games. I'll see you on the front page, and plenty of questions on how to unlock the toys in this on the bbs. Added to favorites.

Glaiel-Gamer responds:

wow long review.